Head lice, would you send a child home?

[Divster]

If you are a childminder, would you ask for a child to picked up straight away if you found them to have head lice?

how ridiculous that kids should be sent home for having head lice. If it's a recurrent problem look to alternative solutions but singling out a child for having headlice (who most certainly would have caught it from a classmate) is hardly the answer.

well look at it think way what if your baby had been at the childminders all day with a child that your childminder knew had head lice and you baby caught it. i wouldnt be happy and i know i wasnt when my daughter who was just under a year at the time caught it from a child i watched who continually had it. i was so upset that my baby got it and at that age you dont want to put treatments and stuff in there hair never mind get them to sit still to use nit comb. also the child who had them was a very friendly and cuddle child and it was hard to explain to her not to cuddle the other child without her feeling upset or isolated

you don't ahve to use treatments, best thing is a nit comb and cheap conditioner

your childminder didn't deal with the problem tho if she continually had it

ramonaquimby Mon 20-Sep-10 18:10:26
you don't ahve to use treatments, best thing is a nit comb and cheap conditioner

your childminder didn't deal with the problem tho if she continually had it

i am actually the childminder and it was my daughter who got it. so maybe i should just have sent child home or refused child entry till parent dealt with it.

no there are other ways of dealing with it - have a policy where you spell out exactly how you do that

you could ask parents to tie hair back
you could mention that they have nits and can they please treat/comb/etc
you could remind them that they still have it
you could have leaflets to hand out to them like nurseries do
if a persistent problem then you'd have to look at getting a bit harder with the parent

Ffs! No, it's not bubonic plague. BUT it's highly contagious. Why not stop it from spreading? Easy to keep a child home and treat it. Easier than everyone passing it around. It's a hell of a lot worse than a little cold passed around.

And, I've had my class checked out and there is NO lice in my classroom:) hooray!

ditto starexpat - its very contagious and again im subconsiously scratching - and the same as S&D - kids are home for 2+ days

if the child with nits was home, de louced, treated and then combed again the next day to catch any stragglers it would be so much easier

What's S&D?

sickness and Diarrhoea

Head lice are a social problem not a health one so there are no grounds for exclusion.

Schools are no longer supposed to exclude children for head lice. An infestation can take weeks to clear and a child's education should not be compromised for something that has no health implications.

looneytune IMO your policy is spot on.

If the proper care combing/treatment and time was taken to deal with the headlice, then it would be over within a week

the child goes back and then gets reinfected again with other childrens head lice

seriously bring back the nit nurse!!!

I agree blondes. And thanks for clarifying. I should have known... D&V/S&D... duh.

It can become a health problem as it affects your scalp, can make it bleed from the scratching. It's something that affects your body and how can one concentrate when their head is itching like crazy?

I have never considered lice a "social problem". SO glad I don't teach in the British system. BLICK. I wouldn't be able to deal with my classroom crawling with lice.

initials can confuse

i often refer to my boss's as S&M (their initials) and once my friend thought i meant sado masochism

but yes nit combing to do a proper through job can take an hour a night, every night

blondeshavemorefun it won't necessarily be over in a week despite treatment.

The life cycle of a louse is about 30 days, so combing will often only get rid of larger lice and not always remove the nits and nymphs (newly hatched lice). So they will then hatch and grow and may not be large enough to be removed for a couple of weeks.

starexpat children don't always scratch with lice, it's only itchy if there is an allergic reaction to the bites. Many children won't even know they have lice as they won't necessarily itch.

I agree parents should be combing and treating when alerted to cases of head lice but to exclude them from school is inappropriate.

Glad I'm in a school where it's common practice to keep your dc off school for lice :) Only ever had 3 cases with this system. And all kept off school for a few days and it wasn't spread.

Glad my children aren't in your school starexpat.

I don't see why their education should be compromised because they have caught lice from another child whose parent didn't check or treat their hair.

I bet you've had far more than 3 cases of nits or lice in your school, you just haven't seen them

Perhaps. Perhaps they were missed when checked. But even so, I've never gotten it in 10 years

And I have long, thick hair, that I wear down 95% of the time

now that's living dangerously!!!

I've never had lice either, nor has DD2, but DDs 1 and 3 have. I think they like some heads more than others.

you risk taker star , though i have also never had nits, but in nearly 20years of nannying, think EVERY family i have worked for has had it at one time or another

Is it more common in the UK?

dont think more common, just more lazy parents lol

oh now look who's the risk taker! You may want to get that post deleted - you'll get flamed!

hey ho, its true

tbh the average family the mum doesnt work, so doesnt have cm/nannys/nurserys etc so its up to them to control

EVERY nanny i know is 100% diligent about head lice, as sure the cm and nurserys are, but does seem to me in my past experience that parents, well some parents (to be fair) just dont care and dont treat and send to school with the head literally moving!!